


Still Connected

by orphan_account



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Dating, F/M, Family, Flash Forward, Friendship, Future Fic, Kids, Lost Love, Love, Marriage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-16
Updated: 2013-08-16
Packaged: 2017-12-23 14:35:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/927652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A surprise visitor shows up, three actually, and may bring permanent affect to the Mellark family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New Friend

**Author's Note:**

> From Katniss's POV,

I sat in the Meadow, the grass making my crossed legs itch. Willow skipped over and handed me a fistful of flowers, dirt and roots still attatched. I hugged her, brushing some dirt off of her back side in the process. Rye ran over, calling her back to play tag. She kissed my cheek like she always does, and ran off, the back of her shirt sticking out like a little duck tail.

 

The kids came into the kitchen and sunk down at the table. "Long day?" I ask, and they give me a look like I couldnt possibly imagine what they'd been through. Sometimes they forget I was a kid once. And in the Hunger Games, which seem to everyone else like an old dream all these years later. But i can still remember every bit of it with perfect clarity.

 

Im sitting on the porch with Peeta when we realize the kids are late getting home from school. I go upstairs and climb out the second floor window onto the roof. I can see the school from here. I settle into my spot when I see them standing by the school gates. Theyre only talking to a schoolmate.

 

"There was a new boy at school today." Willow announces at the dinner table that night.  
"Really? Whats his name?" Peeta asks her.  
"His name's Arrow. He said he just moved here from another district." She tells us.  
"Another district? Thats rare." Peeta and I share a glance.

 

Im sitting in the kitchen watching Peeta bake when the kids get home. I get up when i hear an extra set of footsteps. I see three children standing in my living room. "Who's this?" I ask.  
"Mom, this is Arrow," Willow introduces. I finally get a good look at the boy who Willow has grown close to so quickly, in the last week or so. He has dark hair and striking features for a boy. There is something familiar about that face.

 

I grow accustomed to the sound of three pairs of footsteps in the following days, as Willow and Arrow become inseparable. But one day I hear four. My feet throw me forward when I see the fourth person. I grab for this familiar form I havent held in far too long. "Gale!"  
He hugs me back. "Katniss?!"  
"What are you doing here? I thought you were living in 3 with your family!" I let go enough to see his face, as shocked as mine.  
"They wanted me here to look at some old mine routes that the government wants to reopen, they thought i'd be great for the job considering all the architectual study i was force-fed during the war. What are you doing here?"  
I laugh at the ridiculous question. "I live here. I think you already met Willow and Rye." Realization dawns on his face. "These are your kids? Arrow told me he'd been going to a new friends house after school every day but I had no idea..."  
"Wait, Arrow is your son?" I ask stupidly. Only Gale would name is child Arrow, though it is clever and cute, and the boy owns it well, with his father's sharp hunterish looks.

 

I'll have to thank Peeta's good looks for the beautiful way my children grew up. Willow has Peeta's golden hair and looks just like Prim down to her birdlike stature. Rye has my dark Seam hair and eyes, but looks like his father and has the same broad build. They made very nice-looking children, if I do say so myself. 

 

One night I went up to check on Willow doing her homework, and saw her doodling instead. She covered it up, but only after I'd seen Willow Hawthorn scrawled several times across a piece of paper. I pinched my lips together not to smile and left the room. Needless to say a month later I heard they were 'dating' from Rye.

 

I sent Peeta back to bed, assuring him I'd be there as soon as Willow got home. I curled up on the couch in the front room. I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew she was shaking me awake. "Mom, wake up. Im home." I sat up, rubbing my eyes and filling them with the sight of my daughter, looking as beautiful as she had hours ago when she and Arrow had left on their first date. "Mom, it was amazing. We walked through the town, and sat in the meadow and then we went to the square, and the band was playing. We danced in the square, Mom, and the whole thing was great."  
I smiled, blinking the sleep out of my eyes. "Thats lovely, Wils."

 

In the following days, I spent some time with my long-lost friend. Gale and I ventured through the woods. I still had two of my father's old bows. I'd used my small hold on the country's ever-growing technology to have them restored to the quality of new, and to have them never age. I had the same done for my arrows, but i only had a few left, so I'd bought some more. The food shortage had ended, so we only shot for fun. I'd set up a few targets, hanging on ropes or high in the trees. We ran through, scoring every one. It was almost like old times.

It mustve been the saddest and happiest day in years. Gale was leaving again. He had told me while we were in the woods that day. Which, by the way, still makes Peeta jealous. Dont you just love him? Anyway, when i got home, i crawled into bed and hugged my knees. I wont tell you if I cried. Peeta came in, but saw that I was unreachable and let me be. The sad part was, after three years of him being back in our District, we were still like childhood friends. We never ran out of things to talk about, never felt like we should make plans outside the usual. That's what I would miss most. Gale was the only person I had left from my childhood.   
But later when Peeta came back, he had a card in his hand.

 

Willow and Arrow had gone on a trip to 8, and were supposed to be getting back in about a week. But i couldnt tell if the card changed that or not. Because it was inviting all of us to 8.  
For their wedding.


	2. The Wedding

The wedding was beautiful. Willow wore one of the dresses from the bridal pictures I took all those years ago. She'd fallen in love with it when she was young, and hadnt budged on it. She takes after me that way. Its hard to believe she never met Prim. You would think knowing someone might be essential to acting exactly like them. Before Peeta walked her down the aisle, I hugged her and flattened her ever-present ducktail. Even in a wedding dress that thing showed its face. That was what brought on the tears.

 

Thankfully, she and Arrow did NOT move to 8, and are living two houses over. Gale did have to go work in 3 for about a year after the wedding, and it was hard losing him again. I cried. A few times. A week.

 

But then Gale convinced them to let him take over a post here in 12, and switch positions with an equally high-ranked worker. That was great.  
Especially because he got home just in time to meet our new granddaughter, Prim.


End file.
